Supercars champ misses out on clean sweep of poles in Melbourne

SCOTT McLaughlin has won his 50th career qualifying session but failed to claim a clean sweep of pole positions at the Australian Grand Prix, denied by Chaz Mostert at Melbourne's Albert Park.

McLaughlin won the first three poles of the meet but was edged out by just eight hundredths of a second in the fourth and final qualifying session by Mostert.

The DJR Team Penske man has been utterly rampant in Melbourne and looks set to increase his championship lead in races this weekend, beginning on Friday afternoon.

"It would have been cool to be four up but congrats to Chaz and his team," McLaughlin said.

"We've got a great car for the races as well and we start from pole three times."

Since entering the sport, McLaughlin has been known as a qualifying ace and this season he's won four of the first six pole positions on offer. Curiously, he's won 17 of those poles in car No.33 while at Barry Rogers Motorsport, and 33 in car No.17.

The Kiwi also won both races at the Adelaide 500 and with the superior pace of his Mustang, should leave Melbourne with an enhanced lead in the series standings.